The Dangers of Westeros

Part 1- Chapter 7

There was only one place I could think of where I would be comfortable and no one would find me.

The man who had once lived in this room has been long gone. He had gone to the Wall to join the Night's Watch.

Jon Snow and I had been good friends before I had left Winterfell. We seemed to understand one another on a different level better than anyone else.

He is Lord Stark's only bastard; he never thought he fit right in and I was the same.

Though I couldn't say I know what it feels like to be a bastard, I do know what it feels like to not belong. I'm different than my siblings and Jon is the outsider in his family.

His room seemed to be the only place where I could let myself feel whatever it is that I'm currently feeling.

As I sit on his bed, staring at my father's scroll, I wonder what it would be like to escape it all, like Jon did.

He chose to take the black, leaving behind his family forever.

Even if you hated your family, how could you completely turn your back on them?

I've been hiding in Jon's room for hours now. I know that this was the last place someone would think to look for me; that's why I'm hiding here.

My father's raven was not what I was expecting it to be. He doesn't want me to marry Robb, he doesn't want me in Winterfell.

Why?

Why would he go so far as to say that I've disgraced the family name if I had already married Robb?

What wasn't he telling me?

On the other hand, Lord Varys is telling me to go ahead and marry Robb.

I've met the Spider a few times and I can't say that he's an entirely forthcoming man. There's a reason he wants me to marry Robb and it's not because he wants me to be happy.

For the first hour or two after I rushed out of the Great Hall, I had cried my eyes out.

My father's words have crushed me.

I don't want to marry Robb right at this particular moment, but I would have liked to sometime in the future. My father took that choice away from me and it has left me a wreck.

It's been hours since I've seen another face, but I don't think I could stand to see his face.

The Lady part of me is telling me to obey my father's wishes, but my heart is telling me to listen to the Master of Whispers.

So I guess this is what it comes down to- my duty to my family or my duty to my heart.

The door bursts open before I even have time to consider the decision.

My back is facing the door, but I don't need to turn around to know who it is.

My eyes start to water when I feel his body come closer to mine. His hands slowly wrap around my shoulders and I let him pull me a little closer to him.

"Rhea," Robb says quietly, "what's wrong?"

Instead of answering him, I hand him my father's raven.

He takes it from me and sits down on the bed next to me. I stare at the wall in front of me as he reads it.

When he's done, he sets it back in front of me where it had been and pulls me against him.

I let him and wrap my arms around his body, crying into his chest silently. He runs his hand up and down my back, comforting me.

"I read Varys's raven," he informs me.